


Trust Fall

by Huggle



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dean Winchester is Protective of Castiel, Gen, Hurt Castiel, Protective Bobby Singer, Soulless Sam Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 05:51:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5322893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huggle/pseuds/Huggle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Sam has to do to free Castiel is destroy the sigils holding him prisoner.</p>
<p>And he will....eventually.</p>
<p>He just has some things he wants to know first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust Fall

Castiel was no stranger to unconsciousness. Since meeting Sam and Dean Winchester, it had become a semi-regular occurrence, but this was the first time since he’d been restored by God after the battle in the cemetery.

He rolled carefully onto his side, and pushed himself into a half sitting position. He felt impossibly weak, and quickly frustrated that he hadn’t been able to just stand up, but when he glanced overhead he saw the reason why.

An angel trap was painted onto the ceiling. As long as he remained within its confines, he would be little more than human. 

Again.

He sat still for a moment, gathering his strength, and took the time to study his surroundings. This was not the last place he’d been before he was rendered unawares. The Winchesters and Bobby had been driving to meet him, to investigate the possible location of another Alpha monster.

Castiel remembered seeing the Impala coming down the dirt road towards him, headlights glaring through the darkness. And then, nothing.

Clearly, something had attacked and overcome him then brought him here. And where did that leave the Winchesters? Had they also been taken? Had they seen him being captured and were even now looking for him?

If they were in danger, Castiel knew he’d be no aid to them caught beneath the angel trap. But he also couldn’t escape without help. A circle of fire would have been preferable – he couldn’t leave that either, but he could still act upon objects outside of its range.

The sigils on the ceiling above him were absolute – he was _unplugged_ , as he’d once heard Dean comment in one of the human’s more caustic, less kind moments. Of which there had been many, and his mood and manners hadn’t improved since Castiel had returned to him.

But he’d prefer Dean alive and sniping at him than possibly being tortured to death somewhere in this building, and Sam and Bobby with him, if they had also been taken prisoner.

He spun around as footsteps approached, and felt relief swamp him as Sam shoved open the door and came in.

“Cas,” he said. “You ok?”

He sounded as if he couldn’t care, but Castiel knew that wasn’t his fault. Once they figured out how to restore his soul, the real Sam would return and Dean would have his brother back. 

“Trapped,” he said, and jerked his head upwards at the markings on the ceiling. “Can you damage them in any way?”

Sam studied them and then drew his gun. “This should work. But if whatever took you is still here, it’ll be like tripping an alarm.”

“I’ll be ready.”

Sam raised the gun, aiming at the sigils, when Cas sensed something else approaching. A demon – he could feel the blackness of it even though it was not yet in the room.

“It’s coming,” he warned. “Sam-“

He didn’t expect Sam to suddenly step back into the shadows. He shot him a confused look – there was time for Sam to shoot out the sigils, freeing him, and then he could deal with the demon.

Perhaps Sam thought differently. The hunter pressed his finger to his lips and then crouched down low to hide himself in the darkness.

Castiel turned towards the door, and watched as his captor came in. The vessel was tall, broad, wearing some kind of coverall that was stained with grease. But beneath the skin, Cas could see the broiling black smoke of the creature that had taken the human and was now using it.

“Glad you’re awake,” it said. It stopped outside the limits of the trap and glanced up at the markings. “I’d been told to expect an angel. Not quite such a powerful seraph, but that just makes this all the better. I’ll get quite a reward for this.”

Castiel kept his eyes away from Sam’s hiding place, but wondered when he was planning to actually help.

“The reward won’t be what you think.” He had no doubt Crowley loathed him, but they were – driven by necessity and Castiel had come to hate that word in any language – partners, and so he couldn’t imagine the King of Hell being pleased at any of his demons interfering with his plans however indirectly. Even if only he and Cas himself knew of the plans.

But once he got out of the trap, he wouldn’t leave dealing with this demon to Crowley. He’d take care of it himself.

Once he got out, and he couldn’t understand what Sam was waiting for.

“But I’ll take an advance on it,” the demon said, and then he stepped into the circle.

Castiel’s immediate reaction was to try and purge him, but it was instinct. Trapped as he was, it was foolhardy to even touch the demon, so his next instinct was to step back. He did until he reached the outer lines of the circle and it felt like hitting a wall. He was rebuffed by it, sent forward a few steps and the demon grabbed his arms, steadying him.

“Easy, there, angel. You can’t get out. Until I let you. And I’m not sure that I will.”

Castiel pushed against it, desperate for any flare of his Grace that he could use to defend himself but all he felt was a sense of deadness in his true form. He would be easily overpowered here, and while he didn’t know what kind of advance the demon intended, it could be nothing good.

But he still would not give Sam up. Perhaps he was waiting on Dean and Bobby, reasoning that three of them would be able to deal with the demon better than one.

Castiel wished they would hurry.

“Oh, by the way,” the demon said, its hands still on his arms even as he tried to pull free. “I don’t mind the audience. Why don’t you come out, boy? No point in hiding.”

Sam stood up and came forward. He still had the gun in his hand, finger on the trigger. 

There was no point in stalling now, waiting until Dean and Bobby arrived. 

“Sam, shoot!” Castiel said. “What are you waiting for?”

The demon twisted Castiel around, pinned him against its body. “Go on, Sam. Shoot.” It fastened its hand around Castiel’s throat. “Shoot.”

Sam raised the gun, not at the demon but at the markings on the ceiling, and Castiel could feel the demon suddenly tense. As well it might, because as soon as he was free, Cas would destroy it and take Sam to wherever the other men were.

Then Sam lowered the gun.

“Sam?” Castiel said.

The demon chortled. “Well, I don’t pretend to know what’s going on here, but I’m starting to like it.”

Sam glanced down at the gun in his hand. “It’s ok, Cas. I’m not gonna let things go too far.”

“Too far? Sam!”

He was silenced as the demon clapped a large hand over his mouth and he reached up to yank it away, but the demon locked its other arm around him, holding him still effortlessly.

“Hush up, feathers, I wanna hear what the boy has to say.”

“See, I don’t think you’ve exactly been proactive in getting my soul back. You’re way more powerful than you’ve ever been but I’m still walking around like this. Maybe you can explain that to me.”

“Yeah, go on, angel. This is better than the TV. The _drama_.”

Sam raised his gun and aimed it at the angel trap. “Take your hand off his mouth.”

“Oh, oh, of course,” the demon said. It dropped its hand and Cas tried to shrug its grip off entirely, but the demon just held on tighter.

“Sam, your soul is in the cage. I don’t know of any way to retrieve it. But I haven’t given up.”

“So what have you done? You have any plans, asked any other angels, asked Crowley? Clue me in, Cas.”

“In between fighting Raphael and his followers, and trying to prevent him trying to end the world again?” Cas snapped. It was probably not an idea to worsen the situation with hostility but he was having a hard time coping with the fact that he was helpless in the grasp of a demon and Sam Winchester was _allowing_ it.

“Yeah,” Sam said. “In between all that.”

“Very well. I’ve been studying the construction of the cage, trying to figure out a way to open it without letting Michael and Lucifer free, or to see if there’s a way to extract your soul without opening it.”

“Studying.”

“And trying to find a way to get down there to do so, once I know how to deal with the cage, without drawing Crowley’s attention. He isn’t going to help us with this, Sam.”

If he’d known Sam was missing his soul, he might have added that to Crowley’s deal, but it was too late now. As Dean would say, he’d bought this particular problem so it was his now to deal with. And he would find a way.

Sam clearly wasn’t prepared to wait.

“It doesn’t look like you’re going to help either, Cas. So maybe I’m not inclined to help you.” He lowered the gun, and the demon started to shake with laughter.

“Oh, what a twist,” it said. “You thought this little human was going to save you and he’s just giving you to me.”

“Not exactly,” Sam said. He slid the demon killing knife out of his belt. “Cas, I really don’t want to do this, but I still don’t believe you. So I’m going to let this guy work on you. Like I said, I won’t let it go too far, but any time you feel like making him stop you just need to be honest with me.”

“Sam, I am being honest with you.” As far as he could be, anyway. But part of him still didn’t believe Sam would stand by and watch him being mistreated by a demon. Then he remembered Dean’s recount of how Sam had watched him being turned by a vampire, so they could have a way to find the nest and the First.

He believed it then.

“Sam. Please.”

Sam gave a half shrug. “You go too far, and I’ll come over there and kill you,” he warned the demon.

“What do you count as too far?”

“When you feel my knife in your back, you’ll know.”

The demon sniggered and then turned Cas around and backhanded him across the face.

It hurt, more than he’d expected, and he went crashing onto his back. The demon followed him down, slapping his hands away when he tried to push it back, and then fastened thick fingers around his throat.

“Angels don’t breathe, I know,” it said. Spittle flew from its lips, hitting Castiel’s skin, feeling like hellfire. “Don’t know if that’ll change in here, but let’s see.”

Cas could feel a panic in his chest, but he wouldn’t choke or suffocate. It hurt, but he wouldn’t die from it. Still, he clawed at the demon’s hands, trying to break it’s hold.

“Guess not,” it said. It released its grip from his neck and then caught hold of his wrists and pinned them above Castiel’s head with one meaty hand.

“Let go of me. Sam! Sam, please!”

“You just need to talk to me, Cas. That’s all I’m asking.”

“Do you think if I knew of a way to help you I’d leave you like this? When you’re a risk to yourself and everyone around you? When you almost cost Dean his life?”

“And it comes back around to Dean. You and him and your profound bond. And I’m just the abomination. Is that it, Cas? Why you really haven’t bothered trying to help me?”

The demon tore open Castiel’s shirt and vest, and ran a hand down his chest. “I like to see what I’m working with. Gonna bloody you up some, angel.” He risked a glance at Sam, as though seeking permission.

“Are you dead yet?” Sam said. 

“Wow.” The demon looked back down at Cas, mock sympathy on its face. It patted Cas’s cheek. “Boy really hates you.”

Castiel cried out as it put its hand on his abdomen and pressed down, hard enough that pain exploded through him. It was attacking him with its essence as well as its physical being, and he fought desperately, trying to shove it off.

He sought Sam out, saw the man crouched down a few feet from the trap. His face was alert, eyes taking in everything, as if he wanted to remember all of it.

“Now you know what it feels like to be helpless, Castiel. To be reliant on somebody else stepping in to take care of you.”

Castiel blinked, felt his eyes start to burn. Tears rolled hotly down his cheeks. He already knew what it was like to be helpless. Not just when he’d been rendered human due to his efforts to help the brothers. He was virtually helpless in Heaven against Raphael, no real match for his older brother. The only reason Raphael hadn’t killed him yet was because the more powerful angel was quite astute. 

Killing him might galvanise into action the few supporters Castiel had, and might cause a few of Raphael’s own followers to switch sides over the destruction of a lesser angel. 

Once again, Cas had the fate of the world resting in his hands. Once again, he was questioning faith – only this time it was the faith his Father had shown in him by restoring him and giving him the chance to return Heaven to the ordered place it had been before.

How could the being that had brought everything into existence have been so wrong to place such trust in him?

He could tell Sam that he already knew what helplessness felt like, without the betrayal and pain Sam was inflicting on him.

He returned his stare to the demon above him. Sam was going to let this happen; there was no point in even pleading with him.

“Can’t believe you’re crying, angel. So soon, too. I was kind of hoping you’d save that for when I really got-“

He never got to finish. A single shot rang out, and the demon lurched backwards and fell to the side.

“Cas!”

It was Dean, and Bobby was with him. The older hunter ran forward, and slashed at the demon’s throat with his knife. Sparks flew through its body as it died, and then Bobby was dragging it off him.

“Hang on, Cas,” he urged. He stood up and fired several shots at the ceiling, breaking the lines of the angel trap.

Even though his Grace flared back to life, Cas couldn’t make himself get up. Strong arms wrapped themselves around him, and he almost panicked before he recognised the smell and the touch.

“Dean?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” Dean sounded furious. With his back against Dean’s chest, he couldn’t see his face, but it was probably at him. “Bobby, help me out here.”

Bobby grabbed his hands, and hauled him up to his feet. “You ok, son?”

“I…Yes. I’m alright.”

Bobby didn’t look convinced, but it was Dean who called him out on it.

“Bullshit. Bobby, get him to the car.”

Cas turned, with Bobby holding his arm in a supporting grip, and found himself face to face with Sam.

But Dean was suddenly in between them and before Castiel could say anything, Dean threw a punch that caught Sam in the mouth and knocked him flat.

“Come on, Cas,” Bobby urged. “Best leave them to this.” He guided Cas outside the warehouse, the one he’d been waiting next to as the Impala approached. The car was there, and Bobby guided Cas into the back seat and got in after him.

“You need anything patched up? Are you ok now you’re out of the trap?”

Cas looked down at himself, clothes torn. He passed a hand over his front, and the shirt and t-shirt were restored.

“I meant you,” Bobby chided, lightly, “not your stupid shirt.”

Cas glanced at the doors to the warehouse. “We shouldn’t leave them alone in there. Sam…isn’t himself.”

“No kidding.”

“He could pose a threat to Dean.”

Bobby sighed at him. “Right now I think it’s the other way around. How long did he stand there, Cas? Watching all that.”

Castiel wondered if he should lie. Say that Sam had just come in. But it was pointless. They had seen him crouching there, possibly even heard what he’d said. It wouldn’t help anybody to deceive them. If anything, they needed to keep track of how far Sam would go so they could try to contain it.

“From the beginning,” Cas admitted. “He found me just before the demon came back. We should go and get them.”

Bobby looked concerned himself. “Yeah, ok, but I want you to stay in the car.”

Castiel gave him a look. “My abilities were restored as soon as you broke the trap.”

“And they won’t save you from Dean if he catches you back in there. Anyway, here they come.”

Castiel turned to see the brothers exiting the warehouse. Dean still looked furious, and Sam’s face was bloody, but Dean himself seemed otherwise unharmed.

This wasn’t the way he wanted to see them coping with this, but until he managed to recover Sam’s soul, he didn’t think it would change.

They got in, and Dean gave Sam a look that any other time would have filled his brother with shame.

This time, Sam didn’t even acknowledge it, so Dean turned his attention to Cas.

“You ok?”

Castiel nodded.

“Cas,” Dean insisted.

“I am now,” he said. “Dean, Bobby, thank you.”

“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t have been here if you weren’t trying to help us, and you shouldn’t have had to wait that long for a rescue.”

Castiel felt a summons pulse through him – Balthazar, calling for his presence, and he almost considered telling his brother he’d have to deal with whatever had come up.

But if he didn’t win the war in Heaven, then these men would pay for his failure, along with everyone else on Earth. It was probably a further betrayal of his Father’s faith in him, but it was Dean, Sam and Bobby he wanted to protect the most. 

He couldn’t feel ashamed over that, no matter how much he knew that he should.

“I have to return to Heaven,” he said.

Dean glanced back at him. “Watch your back.”

“And you.” He risked a glance at Bobby, found the older hunter looking back at him, and hoped Bobby understood his silent request to help Dean with that.

It was clear that, for now, none of them could trust Sam.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the following SPN Kink Meme Prompt:  
>  _  
> Robo!Sam sees Cas get overpowered by a powerful demon. He doesn't feel inclined to help since Cas doesn't seem to have made much progress helping him recently. He watches as Cas gets groped, and is virtually reduced to tears (being made to feel so helpless is a big trigger for Cas nowadays). Dean and Bobby show up to save the day and Dean is furious with Sam. Bobby ends up having to take care of Cas while Dean chews his brother out then returns to care for his angel boyfriend._
> 
> __
> 
> I couldn't quite work in any Destiel unfortunately, though if you really really really squint there is I suppose a hint of it.


End file.
